Rep. Paul Ryan proposed a new plan Thursday to merge up to 11 anti-poverty programs into a single grant program for states that he said would allow more flexibility to help lift people out of poverty.

Programs that would be merged include food stamps, cash welfare, housing subsidies, and heating aid for the poor, among others.

The Wisconsin Republican and 2012 vice presidential nominee is a respected voice within his party. His new “Opportunity Grant” plan would impose work or job training requirements on aid recipients and require states that choose to participate to set up at least two service providers, a move he says would encourage partnerships with locally-based nonprofits and community groups that may better know the needs of their communities.

Ryan, who has traveled the country in the past year visiting with the poor and with those who help them, said current anti-poverty programs are “fragmented and formulaic” and that his new grant program would allow greater collaboration within communities to help lift people out of poverty.

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